Chapter 108 Hope Blue Diamond (Twenty-Five)
◎Lover◎
Julius came out of the noisy banquet hall and loosened the silk scarf piled on his collar. Expensive spices and charcoal were burning in the banquet hall, and heat was coming out. Standing in the foyer, one could be enveloped by the soft and tangible heat wave. ★
As the most powerful top family in Florence, the Portia family's banquets are never short of guests. People are willing to fight for an invitation from Portia. However, they unexpectedly discovered that the frequency of the Portia family's banquets seemed to have increased a lot recently, and getting a ticket was no longer an extremely difficult thing.
Julius stood on the terrace and rubbed his brow sleepily. As the pace of expansion of the Papal States quickened, the pressure on the Secretariat of the Papal Palace grew greater and greater, and most of the burden was borne by the Secretary General alone. Although he did not get involved in military affairs to avoid suspicion, he still had to undertake the relevant logistical work, including the continuous preparation of money, food and weapons to be shipped to Assyria, and supporting Raphael in secretly sharpening his knife towards Calais.
In short, Julius hasn't had a good night's sleep for more than half a month.
Of course, this wasn't the only reason that bothered him.
Julius spun the crystal glass in his hand. The amber liquor inside rippled with an intoxicating halo, like a small whirlpool, drawing people's eyes downward, downward, downward, downward...
"Mr. Portia."
A gentle voice came from behind. Julius exhaled silently, smiled appropriately, and turned his head. Even though he had a good memory, it took him a few seconds to recognize the person's identity: "Ms. Susanna."
The girl in a light green silk evening gown smiled shyly. Her young face was like a delicate rose, and her brown pupils were as round as a cat's. She looked at Julius with sparkling eyes.
As an older bachelor in Florence - in this era when the average engagement age of nobles was less than ten years old and the marriage age was fifteen, Julius, who was in his early thirties and had no wife or even a lover, was definitely an outlier among outliers. The nobles who compared the number of lovers with each other even speculated maliciously in private that Lord Portia, who held great power, was not so good that he had no ambiguous partner for so many years.
And for the noble women of Florence, Julius was a hot commodity in another sense - just think about it, a fortress that had never been taken by a woman, a man who could satisfy the most extravagant dreams of all girls. The woman who conquered him could prove how powerful her charm was, and his lover could wear the most dazzling crown of Florence and become the uncrowned queen of Florence.
In many cases, men think that women are ornaments to embellish their power, and beauty is the added value of these ornaments. They enjoy women being infatuated with them and feel the invincibility of their own charm; but conversely, smart women also regard men as prey in their own battlefields. They use simple, admiring and innocent looks to seduce their prey, and power is the added value of these prey.
There is no doubt that Julius is definitely the top prey in this primitive hunting ground, and a prey that has never been conquered by anyone.
Just as a man wants to conquer the strongest horse to declare his strength, a woman who is confined to the family can only waste her long and empty time in this way.
Julius saw the hunter's gaze in the young girl's eyes.
She was still a little young and didn't have the ability to hide her desires perfectly.
"Are you satisfied with today's banquet? If there is anything unsatisfactory, please allow me to make amends." Julius smiled politely, as if he did not see the emotions in the girl's eyes.
"No, I am honored to be able to participate in this pleasant banquet," Susanna smiled happily, her big brown eyes sparkling with a sweet light like honey. It is undeniable that this girl has the most superior youth.
She has great ambitions, and she has great capital. "Portia is a famous family in Florence. Who wouldn't be proud of its invitation?"
"Thank you for the compliment," Julius responded politely. He had heard such flattery too often.
The smart girl saw through his perfunctory attitude, but she didn’t mind it because her target was not Julius at all.
When she spoke, even Julius was stunned and doubted his ears for a moment.
"I'm sorry...what did you say?" The Secretary-General's smile was a little stiff. Susanna didn't know if it was her illusion, but she felt that for a brief moment she saw something cold and sharp in the eyes of this gentleman.
"I said," Susannah arranged her words and repeated, "I would like you to introduce me to His Majesty."
Julius' pupils shrank slightly.
He slowly looked the girl up and down. The young girl who had revealed her ambition in front of him met his gaze without avoiding it and straightened her chest proudly.
Even with Julius's demanding and picky aesthetics, he had to admit that the young countess had outstanding looks and a slender figure, plump cheeks, soft white skin, and fluffy, curly hair, enough to make any man with insufficient self-control stop and marvel at her.
"Do you know what you are talking about?" Julius' smile faded a little. "Perhaps you have drunk too much. There are some strong liquors at the banquet that are not suitable for young ladies to touch. Your elders may not have taught you this knowledge yet."
"I'm clear-headed," Susannah said, clearly rejecting the step Julius was pushing, and was determined to ignore the other meaning of this sentence. "I know what I want. This is an equal and reciprocal transaction, isn't it? I get what I want, and in return, you can also get those things you haven't got yet."
“You sound like you know me well,” Julius said, jabbing Susanna.
The girl's face turned pale. She rarely got ridiculed like this. Even though Julius didn't say anything harsh, it was already a great experience for a girl who always listened to men's praises. Susanna took a deep breath and stood there firmly: "I just want a chance to meet His Majesty."
Julius replied coldly: "I am sorry, but I cannot introduce a mistress to the Holy Father."
His mercilessly blunt words stripped off the last layer of fig leaf that Susanna was wearing. The girl's face first turned red, then pale, and finally she couldn't hold back, big tears rolled down her eyes. She covered her face and ran away from the terrace in embarrassment.
Julius looked at her running back indifferently, lowered his head, and found that the slender neck of the crystal glass in his hand had been broken by him at some point, and the broken cross-section pierced his palm, but he had never noticed it.
Bright red blood gushed out from the wound. Julius stared at the blood for a while, and suddenly a surge of inexplicable anger surged in his heart.
Let him introduce a mistress to Rafa? Huh, what a creative idea? If Rafa had a wife, would they recommend themselves to that woman? Just like coming to him now to recommend myself?
This idea was bizarre and irrational, but that was what made Julius angry.
It was as if the whole world believed that he could not have any relationship with Raphael - any relationship other than the thin blood relationship and teacher-student relationship.
So when he stepped into the Spring Hall for breakfast the next day, Raphael paused for the first time. He keenly noticed that Julius, who was sitting at the dining table, was in a very bad mood. Although the other party looked calm as usual and even smiled at him after noticing that he had come, Raphael could still detect the dark waves surging beneath the other party's smile.
Raphael instinctively thought about whether something bad had happened recently. After quickly reviewing the situation in the Papal States, he did not find anything wrong. He then began to wonder if there was some bad news from Assyria that he did not know about...
As he was lost in thought, he slowed down his pace towards the dining table. Julius looked at him quietly, and did not speak until Raphael sat down.
The butler who was waiting on the side opened another door, and the chef came in pushing a dining cart. He removed the silver lid covering the plates and began to introduce the breakfast dishes to the two distinguished guests.
Neither Julius nor Raphael listened carefully to what the chef said.
When the only sound in the Hall of Spring was the subtle movement of the knife touching the plate, Julius cut the tender beef on the plate and suddenly said, "I remember that you are twenty-five years old this year, on the Feast of Grace."
Raphael was frowning at the plate of fish and artichokes and hummed absentmindedly.
Raphael didn't like artichokes very much. When he was in the slums, he relied on eating artichokes to survive for a long time. Because it was inconvenient to make a fire, most of the artichokes he ate were half-cooked. The taste was enough to make anyone rush to the bathroom to vomit in the middle of the night. However, this vegetable was a very common green crop in the Syracuse Peninsula. It was easy to grow and grew quickly. With its wide adaptability, it invaded every chef's recipe. Even the Pope's plate could not completely refuse it.
Raphael was not a person who liked to express his preferences clearly. Even if he disliked something, he would eat some of it. Julius saw Raphael's reluctance and pointed his finger at the edge of his plate, which contained mashed potatoes and chicken, and said, "Want to change?"
Raphael glanced at him and shook his head.
The chef arranged the dish in a beautiful shape. The lotus-shaped artichokes were filled with tender fish meat and drizzled with pepper sauce. Raphael prepared himself for eating the artichokes. He forked a piece of artichoke leaf filled with fish meat into his mouth. He suddenly heard Julius' next words: "Do you need a lover to soothe your physical needs?"
The taste of artichoke leaves penetrated the sweet and soft coating of fish meat and occupied the mouth arrogantly, quickly arousing those bad memories. Raphael heard this extremely irritating word before he swallowed it. He suddenly burst into a series of coughs and swallowed the food stuck in his throat with great effort. Julius silently brought the glass of water to Raphael's lips. The Pope, who was coughing bitterly, swallowed two mouthfuls of water with his hand before he suppressed the itch.
"What do you mean?!"
Raphael lowered his voice and for the first time looked at Julius with an extremely unreasonable look.
Julius calmly sat back in his seat, his hands crossed in front of him, his demeanor as calm and composed as usual, with an overly rational elegance and beauty, but the words he said were enough to make everyone who heard it stunned, and then wonder if he had lost his mind.
"Given your age, I can understand that you and Ferrante developed that kind of relationship," Julius said in a tone of academic research, "but given your status, this is a very dangerous relationship. He is responsible for your safety and holds the power of the Arbitration Bureau. A bond of interest mixed with emotions is no longer pure and trustworthy. It will become a hidden danger around you."
Raphael frowned. No matter from which angle, he didn't want to discuss this topic with Julius. The consequences of the last time they discussed this issue were still fresh in his mind. He didn't think this was a suitable time to bring up the topic again.
And…why on earth was he discussing his…“lover” problem with Julius? In what capacity and in what position?
"He won't be a hidden danger." Finally, Raphael answered briefly in order to kill the topic.
This answer obviously did not satisfy Julius. The man remained in that position and said calmly: “But it is not the best choice either.”
Raphael was almost amused by Julius. He felt that Julius was a completely different person today. He acted very strangely from the beginning. “Then tell me what is the best option you think? I don’t need to ask for your opinion on this issue - teacher.”
He sarcastically added a long-lost title at the end.
This title made the secretary-general's eyelashes tremble. The man raised his eyelids, his deep purple eyes were misty and no emotion could be seen.
"The best choice is to strike a balance. Let him know that you don't need him, let him remain in awe of you, know that you can give up on him at any time, let him know that everything he has must come from your charity, and you can take it all back at any time."
There was no ups and downs in his words. Just like every time he taught Raphael before, it was just the most basic theoretical teaching.
"Oh, balance," Raphael nodded, feeling a great sense of absurdity, "It sounds like you're planning to introduce me to a lover."
"Yes," Julius admitted frankly. Before Raphael could say anything, the head of Portia leaned over from the dining table, staring at him with two pairs of purple eyes at a very close distance. "I am your best choice."
He bluntly tore off the curtain that had hung between them for so long and laid out what they had both known for a long time.
This was something even more inescapable than the last kiss.
A kiss is an accident, a moment of infatuation, easily forgotten, cast aside, and brushed aside as a mistake.
But they are always careful about what they say.
Raphael's whole body tensed up. He grabbed the fork and tried to calm his tone to prevent himself from bursting into an angry scolding: "Do you know what you are saying?"
Julius felt like laughing at an inappropriate time. He remembered that he had said the same thing to the girl yesterday, exactly the same words, and how did she respond?
"I'm sober." Julius found this very interesting.
This conversation is so familiar, even the characters in the conversation exude a kind of funny comedy.
"As the Pope, you should keep your body and mind clean, but as a secular monarch, you should use any means to consolidate your rule. This is just one of the common means - you have always been clear about this, right? And I am indeed your best choice."
Julius lowered his eyelids, and his eyes behind the lenses were narrow and sharp. But when he deliberately lowered his eyes to cover up the sharpness, the overly strong sense of coercion was weakened as never before. "I have the Portia family, which has unparalleled appeal to the Syracuse Peninsula, and the administrative power of the entire Papal State in my hands. You see, how important I am to you. You have always wanted to control me, haven't you?"
Raphael squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "We have been in the same boat for a long time. What else can you do except support me?"
Julius suddenly laughed. "See, this is what I just told you - let him know that you don't have to have him, let him remain in awe of you, know that you can give up on him at any time, let him know that everything he has must come from your charity, and you can take it all back at any time."
"Dear Rafa, who do you think is more dependent on whom between the two of us?"
Julius' voice was gentle, almost soft, but in Raphael's ears, it was like a tsunami of terror.
The Pope clenched his fork tightly, his eyes suddenly darkened terribly, and Julius had no doubt that if he could, Raphael would really like to stab the fork into his neck at this moment.
This realization made him feel extremely sad, but at the same time, he also felt a sense of almost twisted pleasure.
This is your chance to take complete control of me, and he willingly surrenders his control.
How interesting, he once protected Raphael like a rose in his palm and a bird in his hand, but now he is longing for such an opportunity to turn their situation around -
After a long, suffocating, terrifying silence, someone smiled first, and they resumed their normal dining atmosphere. The food on the table had become much colder, but the atmosphere at the table became even more harmonious.
Julius offered himself Raphael's plate of artichokes, and this time the Pope did not refuse.
The author has something to say:
I don't know if you have noticed, but Mr. Secretary General is slowly becoming perverted... He never used to have this, uh, twisted idea of sharing a lover, especially when competing with Ferrante, whom he has always looked down upon. He even objectified and degraded himself into a check and balance on Ferrante.
There will be monthly exams tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and I have to be an invigilator and mark the papers. It will be another busy two days. When I think about taking over the senior year in the second half of the year, I feel terrible. I really don't want to teach the senior year. I just want to be more relaxed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
